Pilot William Ellsworth, 52, of Califon, N.J., and passenger Tighe Sullivan, 51, of Darien, Conn., were killed when the Bell 407 helicopter crashed at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday in the woods 100 yards from I-380 southbound.

The survivor, Stephen Barral, 50, of Bernardsville, N.J., was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital after the wreckage was discovered at 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, but a hospital spokesman had "no information to release" on Barral's condition Thursday afternoon.

Ellsworth, a full-time American Airlines pilot, flew passengers part time for ACS Helicopter LLC, the New Jersey company that owned the aircraft.

On Tuesday, Ellsworth flew Sullivan, Barral and a third passenger, whose identity officials are not releasing, from Somerset, N.J., to a golf outing.

After dropping that third unidentified passenger off in Elmira, N.Y., Ellsworth headed for Morristown, N.J., where he was scheduled to drop off Sullivan and Barral before returning to Somerset, said Air Safety Investigator Todd Gunther of the National Transportation Safety Board.

This contradicts information local authorities previously reported about the flight and dropoff destinations.

On the way from Elmira to Morristown, the helicopter passed through northern Monroe County and encountered bad weather, which reduced visibility to a quarter-mile, Gunther said.

"As far as we know, there was no (distress call or any other) communication from the pilot to anywhere while they were in this area prior to the crash," Gunther said. "Pocono Mountains Municipal Airport doesn't have a tower with which they would have been able to communicate."

Pocono Mountain Regional Police said the U.S. Air Force later helped locate the downed helicopter using pings from cell phone calls Barral made prior to the crash.

At 8:30 p.m., shortly after being spotted by a motorist while flying near I-380, the helicopter crashed, hitting one or more trees. It came to rest on its right side, with the cab rotor blades broken off, the tail broken in two and fuel and hydraulic fluids and other wreckage strewn about.

"There was no explosion because of how the craft came down, though there was a sufficient amount of fuel on board at the time," Gunther said.

A preliminary investigation report, stating just basic facts about the crash, will be available on the NTSB website within seven to 10 business days, Gunther said.

The exact cause of the crash will not be released until published in the factual investigation report on the website nine months to a year from now.

"We'll look at factors like the condition of the power plant, which is the engine, the structure of the aircraft, the pilot's physiology and (Federal Aviation Administration) licensing," Gunther said.

"The helicopter had no flight recorder, but did have an advanced avionics system with a full array of instruments that would have enabled it to fly under reduced-visibility weather conditions," he said. "This, too, will be looked at."